


It's probably poetic in context

by Legs (InsanityRule)



Series: They Say Friends Don't Destroy One Another. What Do They Know About Friends? [2]
Category: Silicon Valley (TV)
Genre: M/M, Nelson's kind of vaguely gross in the beginning for 2 seconds
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-09-23
Updated: 2015-09-23
Packaged: 2018-04-23 02:35:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,177
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4859777
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/InsanityRule/pseuds/Legs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>“Pete sounds like a decent tortoise name.”</p><p>Gavin agrees to speak at a memorial for Peter two years after his death.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It's probably poetic in context

Nelson’s digging into a bag of gummy worms when his cellphone tweets at him. He answers without putting down his snack. “Hello?”

He sits on the counter. “I’m good, can’t complain. Something up? Yeah, right that thing. Sounds like it’ll be- oh? Yeah sure thing. Well, it’s not sure you know how he gets but I’ll ask. I’ll let you know. See you at Waffle House.”

Nelson walks back to the bedroom, Gavin’s no longer there, but he can hear the shower in the master bath running. Yeah, he can get behind joining in on the action.

He quietly opens the door to the bathroom and strips off his clothes, leaving them in a pile on the counter. The shower is huge, he forced all of Pied Piper to stand in it and they fit great, so it’s easy enough to sneak inside, set his gummy worms on the shelf farthest from the water and tap Gavin so he steps to the side.

“Hey, morning.”

“I don’t remember offering to share the shower.”

“Yeah well I figured you wouldn’t care,” Nelson stands right in the middle of the stream and starts urinating.

“What the hell are you doing.” It sounds like he knows already. Nelson shrugs.

“I had to pee okay?”

“There’s a toilet right there!”

“I’m saving water get off my back! And it’s right on the drain, there’s running water, so shut up.”

He hears Gavin sigh. “Nelson, did you bring your candy in the shower?”

“Of course. I can get clean and eat.” Honestly no one appreciates his methods of multitasking. He turns around and Gavin tosses a wash cloth at his face. “Hey!”

“Either get clean or get out of the shower.”

“Fine,” see if he agrees to shower sex later. He starts washing his face and arms. “Oh, got a call about the memorial for Peter Gregory. Can’t believe it’s been two years.” He dunks his head under the main stream. At some point Gavin switched on the waterfall spout as well; Nelson likes sitting under that one when he’s cold. “Raviga wants to know if you’ll speak during it, since you two knew each other so well.” He turns around and Gavin has gone all introspective and quiet. Not good. “But you can totally say no! You don’t even have to go if you don’t want.”

Gavin still doesn’t say anything this isn’t good at all.

“Hey, um, it’s totally cool if you’re sad. It’d be weirder if you weren’t honestly and-” Gavin starts kissing him and he was so prepared to deny this about ten seconds ago but now he’s less sure. He wraps his arms around Gavin’s neck and starts trying to slowly back them up towards the wall.

And if that happens to be in the same direction as his gummy worms then so be it.

\--

“So you’re sure you can do a speech thing?”

“Of course I can give a fucking speech. I’ve been motivating employees since before you were born.” He doesn’t take the time to actually calculate that out, because Gavin’s fairly certain that was more accurate than he cares to know. Gavin reaches into the inner pocket of his suit jacket, satisfied his note cards are still there in case he, God forbid, get emotional and lose his place. A nice anecdote about their childhood here in Palo Alto, maybe some snippets about their adult life, plenty of praise for Peter’s company (With an ‘accidental’ overlooking of Pied Piper’s accomplishments thanks to Raviga’s funding.), and probably something quotable and prophetic of his own design. In. Out. Fucking aces.

“Cool. Richard just got here so I’m going to go bug him for awhile, but I have my phone.”

“I suppose I’ll just sit on my own,” sarcasm, the sigh might have been a bit theatrical, but Nelson smiles and kisses him before running off to fuck around with Richard. It’s probably for the best; Gavin was hoping to get a few minutes of meditation in before giving his speech.

While the general crowd mingles and eats (Someone was kind enough to remember his mostly fruitarian diet, although he does sample some of the other vegan friendly options.) and Nelson pals it up with his friends at Pied Piper Gavin scrolls through articles about Peter on his phone. He saves a few of the articles as bookmarks for later, mostly glowing puff pieces about Peter and his accomplishments, but a few of them have some pieces about Peter’s early years.

There’s too much ambient noise among the crowd to actually meditate. No one understands how important proper meditation helps a person relax, not that he’s nervous, he’s Gavin fucking Belson after all.

Although he might find a quiet corner in a few minutes.

Out in the back garden of Raviga Gavin fiddles with his prayer beads, turning them over and over in his hands, taking a moment to close his eyes and focus. He has a kickass speech and more knowledge about Peter (Probably excluding Peter’s mother but he’d fairly certain he knows more than her about Peter’s inner workings.) than anyone else at this event.

It’s hard to believe it’s been two years already. Two years since Pied Piper disrupted his entire gameplan, two years since Peter went on that ridiculous safari, two years since that neurotic squirrel of a human called him at his office to offer condolences.

Gavin’s not feeling very chatty so when he gets back he sits at the empty table, ignoring the looks from Nelson across the room. The concern is cute and all but he’s _fine_. If Gavin takes the time to scan the crowd he can find Peter’s aged mother sitting at a table with Monica. He really should say hello. Eventually.

Maybe he’ll call her after the event. Or in a couple months.

Really it should be her calling him it’s not like she has a day job.

Nelson is back at their table just in time for Gavin to pat his knee and walk up to the small stage set up on Raviga’s campus. Some of the photos are over altered, some hack intern with instagram probably doctored them up to look edgy or whatever that disgusting sepia is supposed to do to a perfectly good photo. He makes a mental note to choose his own memorial photos, and has to pause at the bottom of the stairs for a moment to center himself again.

He’s going to end up breaking another set of prayer beads before the night is over.

-

Nelson wants to enjoy his dessert but Gavin looks really out of it, maybe something he ate? No, don’t be dumb, it’s Peter. They were close (Maybe even romantically close from what little Gavin has told Nelson.) and last year Gavin declined his invitation to go to the memorial event.

Well he said quite a few colorful things to the poor sap in charge of contacting potential speakers and spent a whole day brooding but potato, potahto.

This year he’s not only here, but also giving a speech. If it’s anything like the eulogy it’ll be short and sweet with some sort of story about their childhood. And afterwards, if necessary, they can always duck out of the event early in favor of Gavin not being emotionally fragile in public.

He’s been super clingy ever since the phone call there’s no way he’s handling things as well as he thinks.

Nelson settles in with his canoli and champagne and listens.

Gavin lets this quiet laugh slip. “A few of you may know that last year I respectfully declined to speak at this event.”

“Ha!” A few heads turn to Nelson, including Gavin (But he’s smiling at least.). He hides behind his glass of champagne.

“But a lot has changed in a year. Raviga continues to be one of the leading tech companies here in the Valley. Peter left quite a legacy behind.” Gavin’s voice cracks, just a little. Nelson isn’t sure anyone else heard.

“I’m sure we all,” awkward pause, fake cough, Nelson starts wringing the tablecloth in his hands, “everyone can think of the last time they spoke with Peter, I’m sure. Maybe wishing they’d said more, or tried to make amends while they had the time.”

“I remember one time, back when Peter and I were still working together making those damn graphics cards. It was just the two of us then. Peter’s mother,” he gestures over to an old woman across the lawn, “kept threatening to shove over our little ‘hobby work’ so she could restain the dining room table. No one really thought we had a chance to have a legitimate business in the tech industry.”

“I was less tactful at the time, but thankfully Peter responded before I could use any of the uh, colorful language I was preparing to unleash. He simply stated ‘we are not hobbyists, we are innovators’ and went back to work. That’s when we started seriously talking about expanding. And two months later we had an office, twenty employees, and grand plans to grow our business far beyond its meager beginnings.”

“I wouldn’t be where I am today without Peter’s help.”

He takes a moment. Nelson’s pretty sure they’re ducking out early.

“When someone is important to you, make it count. Don’t let something petty get in the way, or you might not get a chance to make things right.”

Nelson claps along with the rest of the crowd, but he tunes out everyone except Gavin, who takes a moment to speak with Peter’s mother before quietly walking back to their table. As he approaches he gestures vaguely towards the parking lot and Nelson nods, waving once to Richard’s table before following Gavin off the Raviga campus and out to the car.

“So, the speech was good.” Gavin doesn't say anything, he just gets into the car and stares out the windshield. Nelson follows and gets buckled in before continuing. “Sorry about laughing, I just remember that phone call and-”

“Look up the cemetery for me.”

“The cemetery? Wh- right.” Nelson pulls his cellphone out of his jacket pocket and looks up the address. “You’re good to drive?”

“Better than you.”

Well that’s true. “Yeah, ha, good point. Take a left up here, uh… oh that street we just passed. Sorry.”

Gavin sighs.

It only takes about ten minutes to arrive. Aside from Nelson giving directions they didn’t speak at all. After Gavin parks he gets out of the car and Nelson debates letting Gavin have some space before getting out and skip/running to catch up to him.

They’ve been here before. Last year, instead of going to the memorial, Gavin brought Nelson out to the cemetery. And here they are again. Nelson starts munching on some hors d'oeuvres he shoved in his jacket before they left.

Nothing happens for at least five minutes and Nelson, as much as he cares about Gavin and understands that he needs time, is getting impatient. “You ever do that talk to the person thing? I never really got that. It’s just a big hunk of stone.”

Peter’s grave is every bit ‘just a big hunk of stone’. It’s very simple and plain, nothing garish or fancy. It reminds Nelson a bit of the man, although he barely had any interactions with Peter Gregory before he died.

“Do Buddhists believe in reincarnation?”

“Do-?” Gavin sighs. He’s rubbing his eyes in that ‘why are you do dumb’ sort of way Nelson’s familiar with. “It’s called rebirth, Nelson. I’m pretty sure we’ve been over this.”

“Probably.” He shoves a handful of nuts into his mouth. “What d’you think he is now?”

“Who the hell knows. Maybe a hermit crab or a snail. He was always fond of solitude. Small spaces. Things like that.”

“Or a tortoise.” Gavin nods. “Are we going to turn into the Captain Ahab of tortoises?”

“I’m surprised you know that reference.” Gavin shakes his head. “I’d prefer to not fill the mansion with tortoises if I can help it.”

“Hey I took English class.” Nelson bumps his shoulder against Gavin’s side. “And you can never have too many tortoises.”

“Pete sounds like a decent tortoise name.” His voice is getting a little raspy.

“Ye-” Nelson just about chokes. Gavin’s crying. Oh shit, okay he’s been preparing for this all day time to be a super supportive boyfriend. “Uh.”

Crap that’s not helpful at all.

“Okay um, I should be doing something right, that’s what boy- oh alright a hug works.” So he’s not great at words but a hug he can manage. Gavin’s already starting to calm himself down. “Say there’s this reptile farm somewhere outside Palo Alto. Could start the Moby Tort search? Maybe make it a vacation?”

“Fuck yes.” Gavin quietly straightens their jackets. “I’m sure Hooli won’t manage to self-destruct in one week.”

“Cool, yeah it’s probably good.” He kisses Gavin and tugs him back to the car. “So if this is a ‘white whale’ search can I get an eyepatch or something?”


End file.
